# Frédéric Guesdon

Frédéric Guesdon (born 14 October 1971) is a French former professional road bicycle racer who competed as a professional between 1995 and 2012, most notably for UCI ProTeam FDJ–BigMat, spending 16 years of his career with the team.
Guesdon was born in Saint-Méen-le-Grand, Brittany. He turned professional in 1995 with the French Le Groupement team and moved on to the Polti team in 1996, where he scored eleventh place at Paris–Roubaix and third place at the French championship. Guesdon had his breakthrough year in 1997. Having signed with the new Française des Jeux team, he scored an early victory for the team in the prestigious spring monument Paris–Roubaix. On the day, of his 1997 Paris–Roubaix victory, he persuaded his team director Marc Madiot to designate him a protected rider alongside his team leader Max Sciandri. After a race full of punctures, Guesdon was with the leading group, containing the defending champion Johan Museeuw, when they entered the velodrome and attacked early to win. Later he would put his race winning move down to inexperience. Guesdon also took victories at the Classic Haribo and a stage in the Tour du Limousin. Guesdon had to wait until 2000 for his next major victory, a stage in the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, a feat he repeated in 2002. Despite a complete lack of victories between this win and his next win, over three-and-a-half years later in the 2006 Tropicale Amissa Bongo, Guesdon remained loyal to Française des Jeux and Française des Jeux to him. This paid dividends when Guesdon won the 2006 UCI ProTour race Paris–Tours, his first ProTour victory and the first overall ProTour victory both for Française des Jeux since the inception of the competition in 2005. Following this result he would serve as a guide to new young team recruits.
In 1998 Madiot opined that Guesdon "[was] not a great rider, but he will have some great rides".
A hip injury at the 2012 Tour Down Under provided him with determination to recover for his swansong. He retired on 8 April 2012, after completing Paris–Roubaix.

## Major results
### 1996

    3rd Road race, National Road Championships
    6th Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise

### 1997

    1st Paris–Roubaix
    1st Classic Haribo
    1st Stage 2 Tour du Limousin
    2nd Polynormande

### 1998

    5th Grand Prix de Denain
    6th Overall Tour du Limousin

### 1999

    1st Stage 3 Tour de l'Ain
    3rd Grand Prix d'Isbergues

### 2000

    1st Stage 1 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
    1st Stage 1 Giro della Provincia di Lucca
    3rd Grand Prix d'Isbergues
    8th Dwars door Vlaanderen

### 2001

    1st Mountains classification Tour Méditerranéen
    3rd Grand Prix de Denain
    8th Tro-Bro Léon

### 2002

    1st Stage 5 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
    4th Overall Étoile de Bessèges

### 2003

    5th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
    5th Grand Prix de Denain
    5th Grand Prix d'Isbergues
    6th Tour of Flanders
    7th Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen

### 2004

    2nd Grand Prix d'Isbergues
    4th Overall Circuit Franco-Belge
    5th Cholet-Pays de Loire
    7th Tro-Bro Léon

### 2006

    1st Paris–Tours
    2nd Overall La Tropicale Amissa Bongo
       1st Prologue
    3rd Grand Prix d'Isbergues
    4th Overall Tour du Limousin
    7th Paris–Roubaix

### 2007

    1st Overall La Tropicale Amissa Bongo

### 2008

    1st Tro-Bro Léon
    4th Grand Prix de Denain
    7th Tour de Vendée
    8th Grand Prix d'Isbergues
    9th Grand Prix de Wallonie

### 2009

    6th Grand Prix de la Somme
    9th GP Ouest–France